| 15th South American Basketball Championship | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | Uruguay |
| Dates | April 4–19 |
| Teams | 7 |
| Venue(s) | 1 (in 1 host city) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Uruguay (6th title) |
The 1953 South American Basketball Championship was the 15th edition of this regional tournament. It was held in Montevideo, Uruguay and won by the host, Uruguay national basketball team. A record seven national teams competed. It was the first to follow the first World Championship in 1950.
Each team played the other six teams once, for a total of six games played by each team and 21 overall in the preliminary round. The three-way tie between Chile, Peru, and Paraguay was broken by a sub-bracket; each was 1–1 against the other teams in that sub-bracket. The point differentials within the bracket gave Chile the top spot in it with +5, Paraguay had +4, and Peru had -9. This was mostly due to Chile's relatively large victory over Peru while the other two games (Peru-Paraguay and Chile-Paraguay) had both been much closer.
| Rank | Team | Pts | W | L | PF | PA | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uruguay | 12 | 6 | 0 | 309 | 200 | +109 |
| 2 |  Brazil | 11 | 5 | 1 | 274 | 222 | +52 |
| 3 |  Chile | 9 | 3 | 3 | 269 | 282 | -13 |
| 4 |  Paraguay | 9 | 3 | 3 | 287 | 284 | +3 |
| 5 |  Peru | 9 | 3 | 3 | 235 | 237 | -2 |
| 6 |  Ecuador | 7 | 1 | 5 | 259 | 310 | -51 |
| 7 |  Colombia | 6 | 0 | 6 | 241 | 339 | -98 |
| Uruguay | 48 - 32 | Brazil |
| Uruguay | 52 - 36 | Chile |
| Uruguay | 62 - 45 | Paraguay |
| Uruguay | 22 - 20 | Peru |
| Uruguay | 58 - 34 | Ecuador |
| Uruguay | 67 - 33 | Colombia |
| Brazil | 51 - 40 | Chile |
| Brazil | 40 - 37 | Paraguay |
| Brazil | 31 - 15 | Peru |
| Brazil | 51 - 37 | Ecuador |
| Brazil | 69 - 45 | Colombia |
| Chile | 40 - 46 | Paraguay |
| Chile | 56 - 45 | Peru |
| Chile | 52 - 47 | Ecuador |
| Chile | 45 - 41 | Colombia |
| Paraguay | 51 - 53 | Peru |
| Paraguay | 57 - 43 | Ecuador |
| Paraguay | 51 - 46 | Colombia |
| Peru | 50 - 43 | Ecuador |
| Peru | 52 - 34 | Colombia |
| Ecuador | 55 - 42 | Colombia |